


Northerners

by americant



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic, No Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 16:10:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5423486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americant/pseuds/americant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>King Arthur has not met with many other kingdoms since his father was king. A threat from Morgana forces him, his most trusted knights, and Merlin to search far and wide for allies. Hiccup's connection to dragons is much stronger than anyone thought, but he isn't that surprised. Set at the time of HTTYD2, but if that plot doesn't happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Northerners

The day before the foreigners came saw Berk in a more frantic state than it had been in years. Extra efforts were put into building lodging for the visitors, fishing for more food than was needed, and lot and lots of cleaning. The last one confused Hiccup the most; Vikings were not known for their cleanliness, and it was obvious they didn't know what they were doing anyway. 

Hiccup himself felt no urge to do anything out of the ordinary. Since being placed in charge of all things dragon, he had rarely been bothered by issues outside of them. 

Six years since the defeat of the Red Death, and it was obvious how much Berk had changed. Dragons became more like neighbors and friends the longer they were integrated into the town. Several had ‘jobs’ of a sort, others merely had chores.

The Vikings were so dependant on them now, that he was certain that this little village would be unable to function without them for even a day. It was for this reason that Hiccup was staring incredulously at his father.

“Oh, don't give me that look, Hiccup. You should be well aware of the attitude the citizens of Camelot have towards them. We have not yet told them of our shift in lifestyle, and I hardly think that telling them while their King is here would be a good idea.”

It was a long while, during which he scowled as disapprovingly as he could at his father, before Hiccup said, “Alright, fine, but they are going to be on the Crowfoot island. I refuse to stuff them all in the arena or some other flammable building.”

“Great. And make sure they won't be getting anywhere our island while the foreigners are here. I don't want anyone to get hurt.”

***

“I see no reason to hide it from them. The Vikings have always had a very strong connection to magic, even if these ones don't use it,” Merlin whined, attempting not to fall flat on his face from the rocking of the boat.

“These people were allies with my father for a reason, Merlin. We have only recently integrated magic back into Camelot, so I doubt it has reached their ears.”

“But they will eventually be part of Albion, won't they? They'll have to be told eventually.”

Arthur turned and gave Merlin another of those looks. Merlin hated those looks; they made him feel guilty for some reason. “Merlin, this is the first talk we'll have had with them in ten years. We have had almost no contact, and now we are only visiting in hopes of them joining us in a war. I hardly think the drastic changes in how our society works will win them over.”

“Now that just makes no sense. If we're trying to get them to join us, shouldn't we tell them who's going to be fighting beside them? And don't you dare tell me I won't be fighting, I have more reason to fight than anyone else. She stole my dragon!” 

Merlin gave himself a slight pat on the back seeing Arthur's wince at his words. There was no way he could argue with that logic. 

Eventually, Arthur sighed and said, “Fine. But it won't be until I say so. I don't want to tell them too soon and lose any hope for assistance.”

Smug, Merlin practically skipped away until he heard Arthur call over to him.

“I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT THEY HATE DRAGONS!”

***

Moving all of Berk’s dragons to another island took a long while, during which Hiccup had far too much time to think. These days, when he thought for too long, doubts of his life on Berk seemed to push forward.

Personally, Hiccup had never understood other people. Granted, he had only interacted with Vikings, but they still counted as people, mostly. To Hiccup, dragons were far easier to understand. In the past months, in fact, he seemed to be able to pick up on their mannerisms and ‘speech’ more frequently. 

His relationship with Toothless especially seemed to strengthen, to the point that every little movement, sound, and expression was easily interpreted in Hiccup’s mind. Privately, he even sometimes thought that he could almost hear his friend. At first, it sounded like norse to him, but as time passed, it sounded more and more like another language, one that Hiccup just happened to understand.

Even now, as he herded the dragons to The Hideaway, the closest, safest island for his dragons, he could almost hear the conversations that the dragons nearest to him were having. In his mind, they were just as curious about the visitors as the Vikings were. 

During transporting the last group of dragons Hiccup and Toothless had gathered, Hiccup could swear their voices were getting more real. The Nightmare flying next to them appeared to be of the opinion that Toothless tell him something. In all honesty, he couldn’t figure out why that was what he thought they were talking about. Beneath him, Toothless felt unconvinced, which he could tell solely from the roll of his friend’s shoulders, not realizing that this gesture was one that only dragons should be able to identify. 

This argument remained relatively unresolved until, at the halfway point between the islands, the Nightmare, whose name was Glowdrum, if he remembered correctly, appeared to give the point that he was already almost complete kin now. Toothless, seeming to have been defeated, gave a twitch of his flaps, which was the equivalent of a nod to the dragons.

The entire conversation seemed odd to Hiccup. Not the conversation itself, but the fact that he would give it that meaning without actually being able to see their facial expressions or see any changes in the Nightmare’s posture. Thinking about it, he shouldn’t have been able to understand anything of a conversation at that depth. 

Further along that train of thought, he began to realize how often he would listen to a conversation between dragons and be able to put meaning to it without even glancing in their direction. 

By the time they reached the island, Hiccup had come to the conclusion that either he really had gone insane, like truly, completely bonkers, or he was somehow gaining the ability to speak to these giant lizards. 

Yep, definitely loony. 

Toothless nudged his side with his nose, pushing Hiccup away from the swarm of dragons.   
“Alright, bud, I’m going,” Hiccup said, not bothering to put up any semblance of a fight.  
Though it was the dragon who was pushing to be alone, Hiccup lead the way to a secluded little meadow in the middle of the forest. He sat down, leaning against a large boulder.

Toothless shrunk, seeming defeated. Hiccup watched as his best friend slunk closer, not looking at him other than to glance almost fearfully at him. Eventually, he sat down, directly in front of Hiccup, and stared at him. Hiccup raised an eyebrow, almost expecting what was about to happen.

“Hiccup?”


End file.
